From Classroom to Community

On a sunny day in June at the Financial and Economic Institute in Tajikistan’s capital city of Dushanbe, a class full of energetic young law students discusses the day’s lesson. To the southwest of the capital, in a small rural village in Khatlon Province, high school seniors tell personal stories about helping their community. Sixty-five miles apart, the students are discussing the same subject: land rights. The enthusiasm in both classrooms is impossible to ignore.

The subject of land rights is a new addition to the students’ curriculum. As part of the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future initiative, USAID’s Land Reform and Farm Restructuring project has helped support this effort by establishing the course materials, which include a textbook and a fact-sheet on ways to resolve common land disputes.

Adults may not always recognize how influential youth can be. But in Tajikistan, USAID knows that youth often serve as a bridge of information, helping their families understand and adopt new practices.